SONIC THE HEDGEHOG REVIEW

Hmmm. How do you write a fully unbiased opinion on a game you loved as a child? With great difficulty I may add, as this following review will prove. I can still remember the hours of sitting in front of a TV set trying to complete this game, eyes bugging out from head at the lack of natural light. Ah, happy memories.

So. The basics. Sonic the Hedgehog. Released in 1991 on Sega’s Mega Drive, Sonic was created as a mascot for Sega to rival Nintendo’s Mario, and maybe to break the strangle hold Nintendo had over the industry. To say the success was phenomenal is an understatement. The game itself set new trends, at the time it was one of the fastest games around (I think anyone who has played this game at least once has pulled off some amazing feat at high speed then looked proudly around at friends pretending that they actually meant that and it wasn’t a fluke) And was a bible for level and character design, as the levels are bright and involving, much prettier and with more inventive ideas than most games of the time. For example, with the “rings” you have no life bar as such, only to grab some of these. When you get hit, you will spew them out like a Vegas slot machine on the blink. Get hit without any, and its bye bye Sonic.

For the 0.1% of the population out there who have never played / heard of / seen this game, the following is for you. You play Sonic, a blue hedgehog with the gift of super speed and your out to foil the evil Dr Robotnik, who’s set on ruling the world and turning all the animals into robots by utilizing the power of the Chaos emeralds.  The game consists of six zones each consisting of three acts. As well as the rings, the levels are littered with item boxes filled with shields that protect against one hit, ten rings, invincibility which makes you invulnerable for a short period of time, speed up shoes that increase speed for a short period and Life boxes.

The first zone, Green Hill zone, perhaps the most famous zone in Sonic history, sets out the trademarks to follow, a brightly coloured tropical landscape complete with checkerboard land and loops. Its also the main place you will notice the most annoying glitch in the game, the “spike glitch” to which if you fall on spikes you will not only lose your rings but be killed instantly. There is, apparently, a 3rd version of the game with this fixed, but I’ve never known of anyone with one. This level even earned a 3D redo as a bonus level on Sonic Adventure 2.

The second stage, Marble Zone takes Sonic through mysterious purple ruins again filled with robots, but also evil looking falling spike traps, and lava. Lots of lava. It chases you, falls out of the roof, shoots you up from below and forms seas that are traversed by a floating block. Be prepared for lots of precision jumping.

Stage three brings you to a zone I still have trouble describing. It’s…a giant pinball city. Spring yard zone, (a very appropriate name) originally started off life known as “sparkling zone” (???) and became the first in a long line of pinball levels, complete with springs, bobbins, flashing lights and giant floating spiky balls.

Stage four will introduce you to the obligatory and much hated underwater level. Labyrinth zone is played mostly underwater, and as sonic cant swim, the underwater controls are much more sludgy than above ground, you are going to spend a lot of time pummelling your controller and yelling at the TV. (Or is that just me?) Another annoying feature of this zone is that staying underwater too long will result in drowning. A countdown will start from five and if you can't guide sonic above water or to one of the strategically placed air bubbles, its Glub! A drowned Hedgehog.

Stage five is the pitfall filled highway in the sky, Star light zone. This zone is littered with self-destructing bombs, see-saw spring boards, and fans that push you backwards. The main frustration of this zone is that running so fast though it almost always results in flying off it at one point.  The lullaby like music in this zone was actually featured on J-pop band Dreams come true album that was released around the same time as the game

Stage six. Scrap brain zone. Perhaps the most frustrating, infuriating, trap ridden level ever created. Every step in this zone is wrought with danger, and everything from open flame vents, buzz saws, trapdoors, electric spark generators and robots of varying kind are all out to get you. And get you they will. The zone resembles a grimy polluted city, but changes in act three to a grey version of labyrinth zone, and also has no boss and it leads straight to the final zone, to where you fight Dr Robotnik for the last time against his giant crusher machine, and without a single ring to help you. 

Ah, but there’s one thing I’ve not touched on yet, another of the great sonic clichés, the special stage. In this, the special stage is a headache inducing spinning maze, in which you’ve to manoeuvre a rolled up sonic though to locate the Chaos emerald, avoiding the “goal” buttons which send you back to the game. Completing the game with all six emeralds will result in a better ending sequence.

CHEATS

Level Select: At the title screen, press: Up, Down, Left, Right. You should hear a Ring chime if you've done it correctly. Now hold down A and press START. 

Slow & Frame Skip: At the title screen, press: C, C, Up, Down, Left, Right. You should hear a Ring chime if you've done it correctly. Now press START. Pause the game, and press A to reset the system, B for slow-motion, and C for frame-by-frame movement.  

Debug Mode: At the title screen, press: Up, C, Down, C, Left, C, and Right. Yet again, you should hear a Ring chime if you've done it correctly. Reset the console; Input the level-select code. Hold down A and choose your Zone.

Continue to hold A until Sonic appears on-screen. The following buttons have the specified effects:

A = Changes highlighted item.

B = Toggles between items and Sonic.

C = Places highlighted item.

Pause and press A to reset. Pause and hold B for slow-motion. Pause and hold C for frame-by-frame movement.

This game was the first in a series of Mega Drive games (Sonic 2, 3, CD, Sonic & Knuckles), each one as enjoyable as the first. Sega’s era of dominance began to suffer along with the quality of games featuring their little blue moneybag. There following consoles, the 32x, Saturn and Dreamcast were all put into early retirement after being crushed under the wheels of the Playstation phenomenon. These days Sega is a software only company, and games featuring Sonic are now available on all formats. So, what’s the significance of this game these days where the PS2 and XBox rule supreme, well, either dig out your Mega Drive or get a copy of the Mega Collection out on former rival Nintendo’s Gamecube and see what you think.